Delay in payment effects on productivity of small and medium construction companies in Oman: exploration and ranking

Maintaining a stable productivity rate in a construction project is a challenge. Many external and internal factors influence it. Delay in payment is one of the factors representing the project cash flow and mirrors the company’s financial stability status. This study explores the delay in payments effects on the construction productivity of the small and medium construction companies in Oman. Also, it ranks the delay in payment among other productivity factors. Sixty-five small and medium construction companies registered in Oman Tender Board participated in the questionnaire survey. The results showed that delay in payment significantly affects the financial stability of the companies. The delay in payment was ranked third out of 21 influencing productivity factors. The results were compared with a previous study that covered large construction companies in Oman. It was found that the rank of delay in payment in the small and medium construction is significantly higher than what was found in large companies.

Analysis of Labor Productivity Factors in the Inspection Division (Case Study at PT. XYZ)

The purpose of this study is to find out data/factors that cause lack of productivity; knowing the model of the relationship and the influence of accuracy, compensation, leadership, and the environment on emplooye productivity; and to find out the design/solution to increase the productivity of inspectors. The method used in completing this research is the Partial Least Square (PLS) method. From the result of the research that has been done it is known that Accuracy (X1); Leadership (X3); and Work Environment (X4) significantly influence Productivity (Y1) except Compensation (X2). And the most influential variable Productivity (Y1) is Leadership (X3) with percentage of 50,4% and the lowest is Accuracy(X1) with a percentage of 20,1%.

Assessment of Human Productivity Drivers for Construction Labor through Importance Rating and Risk Mapping

Labor constitutes a significant portion of the overall cost of a construction project, where labor productivity is often the main driver of the cost. Although studies on labor productivity factors exist, their frequency of occurrence in terms of their ranking remains unexplored. This study differs from other studies in the literature by introducing the frequency component to the productivity factors, a more realistic ranking of the factors by adjusting the importance by frequency (frequency adjusted importance index) and risk mapping of the factors. Moreover, this study is the first to apply risk mapping on labor productivity drivers. The aim of this paper is to identify the project factors affecting the labor productivity in construction projects and to rank these factors considering the perception of the industry on project performance. A literature review of past relevant studies was performed to identify and draft a list of factors affecting labor productivity in construction projects. Thirty-seven labor productivity factors were presented in a questionnaire to investigate the impact and frequency of their occurrence in construction projects. A 9-point scale structured questionnaire was constructed to measure the importance and the frequency of the factors and to evaluate the ranking for different categories. The frequency adjusted importance index (FAII), Spearman’s rank correlation, and risk mapping were used to study and analyze the 105 completed responses. The participants rated the following factors as the five most significant labor productivity-influencing factors: (1) poor labor supervision, (2) delays in payments, (3) poor work environment, (4) lowly skilled labor, and (5) bad weather conditions.

Reconceptualizing Arab Media Research: Moving From Centrism Toward Inclusiveness and Balance

This essay provides a brief overview of the dominant trends in Arab media research, paying particular attention to the most common methodologies they rely on. To understand the current state of Arab media scholarship, the article explores the various influences that have played a decisive role in determining the quality and quantity of research productivity. Factors such as the Arab countries’ historical roots, traditional societies, patterns in education, and current conflicts in the region are shown to have an impact on Arab scholars’ engagement with research. To aid the advancement of theory of Arab media research, this essay advocates for conducting collaborative research and proposes a hybrid approach that merges epistemologies in a culture-sensitive, empirical manner that is capable of making universal generalizations while staying true to the specificities of the region itself.

AIRBORNE AND MOBILE LIDAR, WHICH SENSORS FOR WHICH APPLICATION?

The UAV mapping industry expanded tremendously during the last five years. Thanks to miniaturization, automation and advertising, this technology may give a wrong impression that mapping of certain quality is as simple as clicking few buttons on a PC. Moreover, with a large and continuously increasing offer of hardware and software, the identification of the right tools is not easy, especially when aiming at certain standard. In this respect, the mapping with LiDAR is more delicate than with a camera due to a lower level of redundancy within the process of orientation/georeferencing and somewhat higher threshold on the size/weight per performance ratio within these sensors. This fact motivated us to present a practical benchmark evaluating a popular small LiDAR sensor in realistic conditions for intrinsic parameters such as noise or capacity to penetrate canopy, as well as the “low-weight” inertial technology in terms of geometrical influences on the resulting point cloud. The practical limitations are indeed considerably lower than those specified by the manufacturers or tested in laboratory conditions. These should be considered together with other “mapping-productivity” factors that are summarized in the last part of this study.

Influence of prolonged disposal of municipal solid waste on soil productivity factors

The prolonged disposal of municipal waste influences the soil productivity factors. Therefore, the present study was carried out at dumping site near Chandi bridge Hardwar (Uttarakhand) to determine the effect of physico-chemical parameters of the solid waste on soil productivity factors of soil at different sites- Site-A: It was near to slump area. Site-B (500 meter far from site-A: It was used for dumping and partially submerged with water and had a swampy condition, Site-C (500 meter far from site-B): It was near to Chandi devi ropeway and contained fresh as well as partially decomposed waste. Site- D and Site-E (500 meter far from site-C): It was used for dumping and had putrefied odour due to decomposition of fresh waste. The control site- X (Bilkeshwar mountain region): 10 Km far from experimental sites in N-W direction of Chandi bridge municipal waste dumping area at Hardwar (Uttarakhand), India during the year 2006-2009 at present these sites have been closed for dumping of waste. The soil productivity factors viz. available nitrogen (0.32 ppm), organic matter (0.89%) were found maximum at site-A, temperature (24.610C) at site-C and electrical conductivity (1.05 dSM-1) available phosphorus (33.16ppm), available potash (260.17ppm) at site-E of dumping area in comparison to the soil of control site-X (Bilkeshwar mountain range). At control site, bulk density (1.37 g/cc) and pH (7.65) were maximum while the bulk density (1.08 ± 0.22) g/cc at site-D and pH (7.02) at site-E were observed minimum. The results were statistically analyzed to indicate that the dumping of municipal waste influenced the pH and bulk density of soil and increased the acidity and porosity of soil through which pollutants leach to ground water. But higher amount of organic matter, N, P, K makes it fit for the raw material that may be used in fertilizing industries by using appropriate technologies. The study would be helpful for utilization of municipal wastes in compost formation and to indicate the influence of municipal waste on soil quality of the dumping sites of other places.